Running the Tucker Campaign

3/7/2007

Brian Lucas (Assistant Director of Athletic Communications)

Senior forward Alando Tucker is one of the best players to ever lace
up sneakers for the Wisconsin men’s basketball team. His numbers speak
for themselves. Heading into this weekend’s Big Ten tournament in
Chicago he has scored 2,125 points in his career, just 22 behind the
school’s all-time leading scorer, Michael Finley. He has also played in
96 Badger victories in his career, a school record.

Tucker has
been receiving national attention since early in the season when he was
named Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year and was a first- or
second-team All-American by a number of preseason publications. As the
regular season winds down and the postseason begins, the award season
also gears up.

Already, Tucker has been honored as the Big Ten
Player of the Year by a vote of both the league’s coaches and media. He
was also the lone unanimous selection for first-team All-Big Ten on
both ballots. On Tuesday, ESPN.com announced that Tucker was a
first-team All-American selection according to its writers. He was also
named District V Player of the Year by the U.S. Basketball Writers
Association.

In the next month, a number of national awards will
be announced, many of which Tucker is in the running for. He is one of
six finalists for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, presented by the USBWA to
the most outstanding player in the country. He is also one of 22
players on the Wooden Award ballot and one of 10 finalists for the
Senior CLASS award. Fans can vote for each of those awards at either www.woodenaward.com or www.seniorclassaward.com.

Tucker’s
play on the court and the Badgers’ success as a team has the most
bearing on whether he is considered for any of these awards. However,
it also helps to remind the people that are voting, whether it is
members of the media or coaches around the country, of the great things
he has achieved both this season and during his career.

There are
a number of ways to do that. The easiest is for Alando to have a big
game, in a UW win, on national television. His performances against
Marquette and Pitt in December really put him on the map in that
regard. With that notoriety comes opportunities to tell his story in
the media. The recent features by HBO, ABC Free Ticket and CSTV, as
well as appearances on Cold Pizza and articles by both local newspapers
and national outlets have made Tucker a household name.

For our
part, as a department, we have created Alando42, a web page devoted to
Alando and his exploits on and off the court. For those who haven’t
seen it yet, the page includes a flyer outlining some of Tucker’s great
moments, a highlight tape to see him in action and a link to the CSTV
feature detailing his life on and off the court. It also has some fun
off the court features like a link to the now famous “Alando” song, a
photo of the “READ” poster he helped create for the UW Libraries and a
copy of the recording he did in conjunction with the UW Athletic
Department’s Black History Month celebration. All this can be found at www.uwbadgers.com/alando42.

As
the month of March rolls on, a number of questions will be answered.
How far will the Badgers advance? Who will become one of March’s unsung
heroes? And just how many honors will the most decorated player in UW
men’s basketball history receive? For the player Coach Ryan has
referred to as “the person of the year,” there should be many.